January 25, 2021
World trade back to pre-corona level in November 2020
World trade volume increased 2.1% in November 2020 compared to October, following an increase of 0.7% in October and seems to be unaffected by COVID measures. With this, the world trade volume is slightly higher than at the end of 2019, pre-COVID. Import growth is mainly driven by developed economies. Although imports from China actually fell by -1.3%, Chinese exports grew with 5.6%. Export growth in Latin America (-3.6%) and the US (0.4%) are lagging behind relative to that of developed economies. After the low point in May, world trade has grown continuously.
Global industrial production also grew again in November 2020 with 1.1% compared to October. The euro area slightly outperformed with 1.4%, the US slightly below with 0.5%.
The monthly CPB World Trade Monitor is published on behalf of the European Commission. It takes two months for the figures to be available.
View the CPB World Trade Monitor.